HOAXOLOGY

HOAXOLOGY

CHURCHES BURNED DOWN AND CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN INDIA?

The following message is circulating on social media: “Brothers and sisters, urgent prayer request. Pray for the Church in India. Buddhist extremists in India burned down 20 churches last night. Tonight want to destroy more than 200 churches in Olisabang province. They want to kill 200 missionaries within the next 24 hours. All Christians are hiding in villages.”

STATE CONTROL OF RELIGION IN SOUTH AFRICA?

There are currently two messages doing the rounds in South Africa that might seem similar in content but need to be addressed individually. And even though they seem related to one another, they address two different enquiries.

URGENT CALL FOR PRAYER FOR QUERAGOSH

Two messages regarding threats against Christians in Iraq are regularly circulating Christian networks, via email, WhatsApp and other social media. Even though the emails can be traced back to legitimate sources, the information is old and the situation has changed since the email was first sent out.

POPE TO IMPLEMENT NEW WORLD ORDER?

An email circulating on Christian networks reports that a “New World Order” will be introduced, ushering in a worldwide financial collapse. One version of the email reads:

“EMERGENCY BULLETIN! The New World Order Will Be Implemented September 25th! The New World Currency Will Be Introduced October 20th! We Are At the Brink of Total Worldwide Financial Collapse! TAKE ACTION NOW!”

HOAX VERIFICATION

INcontext International is sometimes asked to verify or comment on news stories, rumours, events or new movements. As these come to our attention, we do as much research as we can and try to ‘set the record straight’.

With a number of hoaxes and false news reports infiltrating the Christian media from time to time, Christians need to be less vulnerable and more discerning before passing any news on. Simply forwarding sensational news or incorrect information often brings negative results.

If you have anything you would like to have verified (a forwarded email, a news report or a text message) please email your question to Andrew Richards.

Click on the link below for guidelines for independent verification research.

POPULAR HOAXES

ARMS SEIZED EN ROUTE TO REFUGEE CAMPS?

“GAY JESUS” FILM TO BE MADE?

BLOOD MOONS PROPHECY: REVELATION OR SPECULATION?

AN ISLAMIC USA, ONE CHURCH AT A TIME?

VIDEO EVIDENCE OF EUROPE INVASION?

MUSLIMS BUYING FARMS IN PETRUSVILLE, SOUTH AFRICA?

The following email is doing the rounds:

This “furniture shipment” was supposed to go to the refugee camps in Geece to make their life more bearable and ease their hardships. 52 tons of guns and ammunition in big 40’ double containers followed the migrants to Europe, pretending to be furniture…

Emails similar to this one have been doing the rounds for a number of years: “The movie ‘Corpus Christi’ is due to be released this June to August. It is a disgusting film set to appear in America later this year which depicts Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals.”

The “Blood Moons” theory is a ‘prophecy’ that the four ‘blood moons’ (or tetrad) occurring on Jewish festival days (Passover and Sukkot) are a sign of something significant about to happen to Israel, as well as a sign of the end times.

An email circulating Christian networks calls for “action if we value our way of life” with an alarming message that Muslims are building “an Islamic State in America, one church at a time”. The email reads as follows: “CHURCHES NO MORE – THEY ARE BUILDING AN ISLAMIC STATE IN AMERICA, ONE CHURCH AT A TIME.”

In November 2015, a number of websites published a video that supposedly showed Muslim refugees committing various acts of violence, under the title “This Is The Most Disturbing Muslim ‘Refugee’ Video You Will Ever See”. Email messages soon surfaced with warnings of the invasion of Europe.

An email doing the rounds in South Africa warns Christians about an Islamic agenda that involves “buying farms in bulk” and “walking around in areas, claiming the towns for Islam”. Part of the message reads as follows: “In Petrusville Muslims are buying farms for up to 7x of its value and they then close the farms.”